Chapter 37

Stoney's Turn:

That was a surprise. Of course, since last September I've had lots of surprises.

That was pleasant. Same thing. Since I touched fingertips one day with this startling redhead, I've had lots of 'pleasant', too.

I parsed Jo's comments, "A little girl with family issues." "I get the feeling..." I concurred. "She's quite comfortable when she's playing, though."

My partner smiled. "I've seen the family issues. Us military brats get an introduction." She paused. "No, make that an immersion. It's a tough venue for marriages and families, what with a parent being deployed and leaving the other parent and kids back home. I've seen it all."

I nodded. I was single, but I kept track of the conversations of my fellow soldiers. I knew some stories.

"I guess it shows up more for the girls," Jo sighed. "Some go to one extreme, some go to the other. Kara turned inward. The sad part is that it seems that her dad had a choice. Some of Dad's contemporaries had no choice."

"Your dad's contemporaries weren't pulling in millions from lawsuits. I can only imagine what that wealth did for Kara's dad."

"She seems like a neat kid," Jo told me.

"Kid? She's what, four or five years younger than you?"

"That's an important four or five years," she said. "The seventeen year old Jo was a lot different than the twenty-one year old Jo. And I had the good fortune to have Anders and Bridgette for parents."

"Remind me to tell them how great a job they did, one more time," I smiled.

"You're just easily manipulated, sir," she giggled.

She manipulated me through the kitchen to tidy up, then straight into the shower and to bed.

Next morning the alarm clock reminded me that I had a real job. That job used to be the high point of my day. I like what I do and whom I get to do it with. I know some true horror stories about cubicle-bound staff engineers. After all, Dilbert cartoons abound, and a lot of them are only the proverbial 'tip of the iceberg'. I have a few posted myself.

The fact that my boss walks into my cubicle and laughs at the new ones is a sign of the balance and harmony we enjoy.

But that was then. This is now. The same alarm that woke me to the sounds of Mozart woke up this amazing redhead next to me. Her arms wrapping me up are just an iota short of what it takes to chuck the whole job.

I kiss her and get out of bed. Classes over, she gets to lounge in bed late now. I'm bumping through breakfast in the kitchen when a soft hand rests on my shoulder.

"You know, you COULD sleep late."

"I know, but ... You made enough coffee for two, didn't you?"

Of course I did. My smile transmitted that data to her. A cheese Danish in the microwave for twenty seconds and she was sitting across the table from me.

"Still on that Central American power grid?"

"Yes," I said. "Got 3Sigma's stuff. Just finishing the package to meet that January 15 deadline. Lights'll stay on in Managua and Tegucigalpa. At least more reliably than they used to."

"And look at what manner of fate this job has gotten us," she replied. "Got that strange gang in Alabama out of the job."

"Yeah," I said. "Definitely one of those unexpected twists."

"Kara's another one, sweetie. Can you..."

"Can I handle whatever you bring to me? Yes," I said.

"I'm not some whacko pseudo-lib college girl looking for a cause," she said. "I don't go looking, but if one knocks on my door..."

I took a sip of coffee. "I know what you are, dearest. You're my brilliant, beautiful Johanna. And I can trust you to do the right thing."

Finally I succumbed to my exaggerated sense of responsibility and collected a kiss at the door. The drive to work ... Oh, yeah, I'm paying attention, new SUV and all, and the route still works well, but I do admit a heightened awareness of intersections, green light in my favor or not.

Into the office, straight to the coffee room. Hot water. My French press. My own coffee. And we're good.

Brad walks in. He drinks the factory stuff. "How's it going?" he asks.

"Great! Almost nirvana."

"Says the guy who's been married two months."

"Three."

"I'm surprised you can walk, wreck notwithstanding," Brad laughed.

Carole looked at him. "Bradley Sykes! Don't be coarse."

Brad took on his trademarked smirk. "I meant that he's still floating among the clouds," he stated innocently.

"Yeah. Uh-huh..." Carole gave him a look. "I'm watchin' you, Bradley. And me an' your wife are friends."

"And my wife adores me," he laughed. "And she knows how YOU are."

Okay. Off to work. Double check the 3Sigma stuff. Waste of time, I quickly saw, but I had to do it. Prudent. Errors do creep in. I know. Sitting there entering the data is tedious, and that assumes that the people who gathered the data to give you got their stuff accurately recorded.

I closed my eyes after half an hour. Played the Phases of Johanna slideshow in my mind. There's an extra set of slides. My redheaded Johanna and her new friend, brown-headed, brown eyed Kara, violin tucked under her chin, a smile on her lips. The smile stayed there as long as she played.

Johanna's turn:

Grocery shopping. I giggle to myself as I parse that idea. Johanna is preparing for a Christmas dinner. Mom and Dad are coming. This is a big milestone. We can do it, Stoney and I. Won't be that big nor that fancy, but it will be like some of the Christmas meals I enjoyed while growing up where the menu's lack was made up for by the love. And the sharing. Dad and Mom often opened up our home for other families of junior soldiers who might be under strained finances.

And Christmas music. You know all of 'em and so do I, and the store where I shopped was playing some good tracks of traditional songs. I hummed along. Okay, I hummed and imagined my flute playing along. I checked out, loaded my loot, heading home. I stored the perishables and put the canned goods away. Being all domestic, me. I worked up until lunch giving the kitchen a good going over. No, it was clean. But I wanted it spotless for Christmas.

At lunch I fixed myself a little sandwich and took time to eat and read. The phone rang. My Stoney. We exchanged words over who was doing what. Ended with the exchange of "I love you". I do love him and that's all the more reason to get back to my task.

Our little place wasn't dirty, but as Dad used to say, "Details..."

I had just eased back into Stoney's recliner, smelling his fragrance where it permeates the fabric. I closed my eyes. And my cellphone rang. Nope, none of the distinctive ringtones for my friends and family, this was the generic one.

"Hi! This is Jo!"

Soft voice. "Jo, this is Kara. I enjoyed last night..." Her tone drifted off at the end of that statement, making a question evident.

Okay, I don't know why I'm doing this, but... "We enjoyed it too, Kara. Looking forward to the next one."

"W-would today ... too soon?"

"Of course NOT," I squealed. "Come on. But I'll warn you before you decide, I made cabbage rolls."

"Oh, gosh, you COOK? Yourself?"

"Of course! I'm in between semesters. Stoney has to work, so I take care of the house. That means cooking."

"Are you sure I'm not, like, IMPOSING?"

"No, seriously, Stoney enjoyed you playing with us."

"Is he coming home at the same time?" she asked.

"Maybe not. He's finishing a project. He said he wanted to get to a good stopping place before Christmas."

"I'm leaving school. Can I come straight there?"

"Come on," I said.

"Oh, thank you, Jo. I'll be there in a bit."

I had to report that to Stoney. A quick email works. It's more discreet than a phone call or a text. <<Click!>> and it's gone. That has one of two outcomes. I get a quick 'okay' reply or...

My phone rang. Stoney.

"Hi, babe!"

"Hello, sweetness. She called back?"

"Yes, she did. Stoney, I don't have the heart to turn her down. Don't ask me why."

"I know why," he said. "And I'm okay with it."

"Normal time?"

"If I must. But we're really working on this thing. I want to have a couple of tabs ready before Christmas. It'll make Bill relax."

"Take your time. We'll be okay."

"I love you, you know."

"And I love YOU, too. And one day we won't have to..."

"If that's what we want. These things are my marathons."

"I know," I said. "Cindy told me about the 'I'm bored, let's engineer' phone calls."

"Oh."

"Oh, don't sound so caught. Cindy said you called to talk to Dan and she hijacked the conversation."

"Didn't want you thinking I was calling Cindy behind your back."

I giggled. "Those girls, all of them, are totally devoted to their husbands. First, I don't even begin to worry about YOU. Second, I don't worry about THEM."

"Good! You shouldn't. I just didn't want you to know how stir-crazy I was."

"You're not crazy. I can understand how you were, stuck in the house. But Kara, you sure it's okay? Just this one time?"

"Sure, baby. Just keep your antennae up, okay?"

"Okay, sweetie," I said. "I just have this feeling. You know how I am about feelings, right? I had one about YOU. I'll be careful, baby," I assured him.

"Okay. I'll probably be a couple hours late."

"The cabbage rolls," I said. "I'll have your plate in the fridge."

"'Kay, baby. I love you."

"And I adore you, Stonewall Jackson." The phone clicked.

I put the kettle on to boil. Tea! A little late, but still, I just wanted to have something for Kara when she arrived.

Arrive she did. Doorbell rang. I opened it and let her in. Her smile was so shy, almost tentative.

"Hi, Jo," she said. "I don't mean to be a pest..."

"You're no pest, Kara. I'm pleased to have you over. Come, sit! I've made tea."

When she saw the teapot, she said, "I've never had tea like this. You know, this is Houston. 'Tea' means iced tea."

"Oh, don't I know," I said. "But Mom is Irish and they're almost as fanatical about it as the English." I guided her through the little ritual. Nope, it's not a Japanese tea ceremony, but it IS a ritual.

"Where'd these cookies come from?" Kara asked. "They're quite unusual. Some kind of exotic hints there."

"Mizz Betta bakes them."

"I remember her. These are good. Tell her that I liked them."

"I certainly will. She's a great person."

"You like people, don't you, Jo?" Kara said, looking over her teacup.